Within the opening thirty minutes of "Max: An Autistic Journey", the titular character failed to understand a simple knock-knock joke, had a melt down over which bathroom to use and repeated a verbal tic a dozen times. As the father of a child with ASD, it felt immediately familiar albeit from a different perspective. "Max" tries to carry the player though a day in the life of a ten year old high-functioning autistic child and help you see things from his side. Along the way, the game is carried by fairly simple RPG elements where, through Max's imagination, the player does battle with obstacles as varied as houseplants, zombie ants, dinosaurs and manifestations of anger. The game uses pictographs at each stage of Max's day to help explain Max's particular challenges and how he has learned to cope with them the best he can. Despite being the protagonist of the story, Max isn't above reproach, sometimes making a joke about a fellow student's disability or causing a scene. By its broad strokes, Max's story seems true to life: he's not a Hollywood-style autistic savant nor is he sainted because of his disability, he's just a kid with his own unique struggles.

As a game, "Max" sometimes falters. There is a tricky line to walk between making a game challenging for the player and having a ten year old boy lose an imaginary fight with a toy dinosaur and "Max" tends to play it safe which means that combat soon becomes rote. Likewise, the minigames are designed more around evoking a sense of imagination or whimsy than compelling game play. I understand that they wanted some "game" in their game rather than a walking simulator PSA but it could benefit from some reworking.

Ultimately though, I felt that "Max" was successful in what it sets out to accomplish: giving the player an alternate perspective into the challenges of an ASD child without being overly preachy. I don't know if it holds up on its own as a gaming experience but I did feel like it had something honest to share.

Within the opening thirty minutes of "Max: An Autistic Journey", the titular character failed to understand a simple knock-knock joke, had a melt down over which bathroom to use and repeated a verbal tic a dozen times. As the father of a child with ASD, it felt immediately familiar albeit from a different perspective. "Max" tries to carry the player though a day in the life of a ten year old high-functioning autistic child and help you see things from his side. Along the way, the game is carried by fairly simple RPG elements where, through Max's imagination, the player does battle with obstacles as varied as houseplants, zombie ants, dinosaurs and manifestations of anger. The game uses pictographs at each stage of Max's day to help explain Max's particular challenges and how he has learned to cope with them the best he can. Despite being the protagonist of the story, Max isn't above reproach, sometimes making a joke about a fellow student's disability or causing a scene. By its broad strokes, Max's story seems true to life: he's not a Hollywood-style autistic savant nor is he sainted because of his disability, he's just a kid with his own unique struggles. As a game, "Max" sometimes falters. There is a tricky line to walk between making a game challenging for the player and having a ten year old boy lose an imaginary fight with a toy dinosaur and "Max" tends to play it safe which means that combat soon becomes rote. Likewise, the minigames are designed more around evoking a sense of imagination or whimsy than compelling game play. I understand that they wanted some "game" in their game rather than a walking simulator PSA but it could benefit from some reworking. Ultimately though, I felt that "Max" was successful in what it sets out to accomplish: giving the player an alternate perspective into the challenges of an ASD child without being overly preachy. I don't know if it holds up on its own as a gaming experience but I did feel like it had something honest to share.